Douglas: Welcome to the Unleash Your Potential Blog; what question can I answer today?
VisionVoyage: How can I develop a more positive outlook on my career?
Douglas: That is a wonderful question. At the same time, it is one of those questions that begs others. When you don’t have a positive outlook on something (it doesn’t have to be a career), it is because of your thoughts about that particular thing. Relative to your question, the first question that comes to mind is, what are you thinking about your career that is leading you to feel negative about your career? The answer to this question is critical to developing a more positive outlook. You will likely need to make some changes to improve your outlook, but without knowing the driving force, it will be like navigating to a destination without knowing where you want to go. Sure, you might make a lucky guess here and there, but overall, it will likely be very ineffective.
Let’s return to my question, “What are you thinking about your current career that is making you feel negative?” Here are some thoughts you may have.
Automation and AI are creating instability and might threaten my job.
As technology advances careen forward at breakneck speed, this is becoming a more common thought. The reality is that automation and AI are not going away, especially not in our fast-paced “I want it now” culture. You might need to consider how you integrate these emerging technologies to improve your career outlook. Take a course on harnessing the power of AI. If you learn how to make AI work for you, you can become a leader/innovator in your career.
Adverse experiences like poor performance reviews or failed business ventures
We all have setbacks and failures in our careers. They can take a toll on us. Look at each failure. What can you take away from the experience? Failure might be related to a lack of knowledge or skill, in which case, one should get some extra training and try again. If the failure was a business venture, why did it fail? Perhaps it was the wrong time or the wrong market. In any case, answering the why can help you to re-tool for the next attempt. Maybe you must step back, do something else, and regroup before trying again. In all of these examples, it is helpful that a failure does not define you as a failure. It means something you tried didn’t work. Be resilient, figure out where it went wrong, and make a change. If you don’t risk failure, you can never achieve success.
Comparison with peers, family, or social/cultural norms
We all do it. We take in information from all around us. We watch other people on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. We see people in our careers posting the best parts of what they do without admitting the challenges they face. Our family and friends pour ideas into us about what our career is and should be. We can receive information from cultural norms about what careers we ought to pursue. It is essential to realize that all this information is just noise. None of it matters because our thoughts are what make the difference at the end of the day. All that stuff only matters if we agree and internalize it. Sure, a family member thinks you are in the wrong career. It only impacts you when you start to agree with them. The trouble is if deep down your aspiration is that career, you will create an identity mismatch and start developing a negative outlook. So turn off all the noise and look inward. What do you want to be doing? It might be time for a change if it isn’t what you are doing right now.
From the examples above, you can see various reasons you might be experiencing a negative career outlook. And in truth, I only scratched the surface. Many other factors might be contributing to your negative outlook. The good news is that you are entirely in control. Look inward, determine what is driving the negative outlook, and develop a plan for change. If you change the circumstances, you will change the outlook.
I hope my answer sheds some light on your question. If you want to dig into this concept further, I encourage you to reach out and set up a conversation. In the meantime, check back tomorrow for the next question in the Unleash Your Potential Series!
Be Well!
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